Drought in Hancock County, KY: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

Hancock County, KY: 4 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 1
2. 10
3. 8
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 0
8. 16
9. 1
10. 0
11. 16
12. 11
13. 18
14. 0
15. 0
16. 5
17. 7
18. 0
19. 0
20. 7
21. 0
22. 0
23. 13
24. 5
25. 5
26. 1

20002025

Drought years: 2007 (16 wk), 2010 (16 wk), 2012 (18 wk) and 2022 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021.

A regular lawn is fine here; plan for the odd dry year

Real droughts are rare here. A smart controller that skips watering after rain covers the odd dry year.

You can keep a regular lawn. Worth doing: a rain-sensing or smart controller, and deeper, less frequent watering if Sep turns dry.

Against the rest of KY

48th most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Breckinridge County (1.5 in 10) and Greenup County (1.5 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Sep (22% of weeks), then Oct (21%) and Nov (14%). Least in Mar (0%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 6 Jan
2. 6 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 9 Jun
7. 8 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 21 Oct
11. 14 Nov
12. 7 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 18 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.1% at D2, 0.8% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 24 weeks, Sep 14, 2010 to Feb 22, 2011.

Lately

Last drought year: 2022, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 8 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Hancock County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2012, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Hancock County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.